Oh No, America is Falling Behind the World with Slow Internet Broadband!!!!

Oh the horror. The Washington Post reports:

Americans invented the Internet, but the Japanese are running away with it.

Broadband service here is eight to 30 times as fast as in the United States — and considerably cheaper. Japan has the world’s fastest Internet connections, delivering more data at a lower cost than anywhere else, recent studies show.

So what? Honestly, so what? What are the great things the Japanese are doing with the speedy internet? The story states three things–full size TV quality video, telemedicine, and maybe more working from home. Is this real innovation? Does any of it matter? Obviously the telemedicine is the most compelling, but as the story states, Japan has a severe shortage of pathologists. Does America? Even if America does, then what needs to happen is a few very fast connections need to be run to out-of-the-way places. That solves the only real advantage the Japanese and their fast internet have on America.

Does internet speeds have to be any faster to promote working at home? My home internet connection is much faster than my connection at work. Also, what advantage does full size video give me? I’m sure there is some, but if it’s a big improvement, then why aren’t more people clamoring for it?

I’m a big fan of the internet. I’ve made housing choices before based solely on which location had faster internet. But I don’t see why people are so concerned about slower internet in the US. Let the Japanese come up with the killer application that demands greater bandwidth–then there will be calls for faster internet and it will happen. Until there is demand, we won’t see internet of the speed it is in Japan.

One Reason I Will Never Vote for Mike Huckabee

Last month I saw Mike Huckabee give a talk. I was impressed, especially because Fred Thompson spoke directly after Huckabee and Huckabee’s talk was head and shoulders better than Thompson’s. But I will never, ever vote for Huckabee. Huckabee wants a national ban on smoking in public places. I don’t smoke. I never have and I never will. But there is no change I will never consider voting for a candidate that wants to limit freedom like Huckabee wants to. People should be allowed to decide what workplace, restaurant, and public place they want to create.

A National Strategy to Fight Fatness

The Trust for America

Heroes is out on DVD

If you didn’t watch Heroes last season, check it out on DVD. As Lost dies an excruciatingly slow death, check out Heroes. It is much more fun and unlike Lost, in each episode there is some progress toward a conclusion.

Quote of the Day

“Under what circumstances is it moral for a group to do that which is not moral for a member of that group to do alone?” — Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Hi-Def Star Wars Pics

Here’s an interesting comparison of Star Wars in HD and in standard definition DVD. After seeing this I wonder–for most movies, is there going to be better definition beyond the current definition pinnacle of 1080p. Will Ultra HD make any difference? For already-produced movies, the answer seems to be no.

Rebuilding New Orleans

Douglas Brinkley’s article on rebuilding New Orleans in the Washington Post today fires me up. Here are some excerpts:

Two full years after the hurricane, the Big Easy is barely limping along, unable to make truly meaningful reconstruction progress. The most important issues concerning the city’s long-term survival are still up in the air. Why is no Herculean clean-up effort underway? Why hasn’t President Bush named a high-profile czar such as Colin Powell or James Baker to oversee the ongoing disaster? Where is the U.S. government’s participation in the rebuilding?

And why are volunteers practically the only ones working to reconstruct homes in communities that may never again have sewage service, garbage collection or electricity?

Eventually, the volunteers’ altruism turns to bewilderment and finally to outrage. They’ve been hoodwinked. The stalled recovery can’t be blamed on bureaucratic inertia or red tape alone. Many volunteers come to understand what I’ve concluded is the heartless reality: The Bush administration actually wants these neighborhoods below sea level to die on the vine.
…
The answer to New Orleans’s levee woes is painfully obvious: money and willpower. Common sense dictates that the endangered areas — if repopulated (and that is a big if) — demand levees that can sustain Category 5 storms. It’s a national obligation. Entire blocks are moldering away while the federal government lifts only a cursory hand to reverse the desultory trend.

I’m sorry, but rebuilding New Orleans isn’t a “national obligation.” The state of Louisiana might make it an obligation or the city of New Orleans might make it an obligation, but the nation has not obligation to rebuilding parts of the city that are below sea level in a hurricane prone area. That’s crazy talk. Of course, soon after the hurricane President Bush talked crazy talk about the federal government rebuilding, but that was crazy talk too. Did I mention that it would cost $40 billion to build levees that would withstand a Category 5 hurricane?

Let’s be clear, it is not the role of the federal government to fix every problem, real (as in New Orleans) or merely perceived.

Last Weekend We Went to Newport, RI

This was once Humphrey Bogart’s "house", originally uploaded by Laram777.

The mansions in Newport are amazing. I was really surprised with how beautiful they are. I guess that’s what happens when billionaires (they would have been billionaires in today’s dollars) decide they need “cottages.” Here’s a picture of the Vanderbilt’s house, The Breakers.

Journalists Need Critical Thinking Skills

Here’s a good example of a journalist and editors who need to work on their critical thinking skills–”Red Sox Nation New King of the Road.” The article argues that the Red Sox draw more people to road games than the Yankees do–an average of 896 more people. And because they draw more people to road games, they are the new America’s team. But the logic has a bit of a problem–Yankee Stadium holds 55,000, but Fenway only holds 36,000. The USA Today’s reasoning, therefore, punishes the Yankees for playing home games against the Red Sox at the much-smaller Fenway. When you throw out the Yankees-Red Sox games, the Yankees draw more people to away games. Nice work USA Today, you failed the critical thinking skills question today.

More here and here.

Global Warming Makes the North Atlantics Saltier/Less Salty

The North Atlantic is becoming less salty, or maybe it is becoming saltier. Whichever the answer, it is obviously because of global warming!

GLOBAL WARMING MAKES NORTH ATLANTIC LESS SALTY

LiveScience, 29 June 2005

http://www.livescience.com/environment/050629_fresh_water.html

Michael Schirber

Since the late 1960s, much of the North Atlantic Ocean has become less salty, in part due to increases in fresh water runoff induced by global warming, scientists say. Now for the first time researchers have quantified this fresh water influx, allowing them to predict the long-term effects on a